Video communications are an increasingly popular method of connecting via a social networking system. For example, where social networking system users were once limited to only written electronic communications, they can now communicate electronically with a video taken from a personal computing device, such as a smart phone. Social networking systems also enable users to provide live video streams as a means of communicating with other social networking system co-users. To illustrate, a social networking system user can broadcast a live video stream, captured by a camera incorporated within a user's smartphone, to one or more social networking system co-users.
Businesses, newscasters, politicians, and other public figures often leverage live video stream capabilities in order to quickly communicate with large audiences of social networking system users. However, in a live video scenario, the communication channel is one-way, and a broadcaster generally has no feedback on how well his audience is engaging with the live video stream. In other words, the with many conventional live video broadcasting systems, a broadcaster generally does not know whether members of the audience are actually engaged with the live video stream.
Similarly, audience members receiving a live video stream generally have no way to provide feedback to or interact with the broadcaster of the live video stream. For example, conventional live video broadcasting systems generally fail to allow a user watching a live video stream to interact with the broadcaster. Additionally, with conventional systems, the user watching the live video stream typically has no indication as to the level of engagement of other social networking system users watching the same live video stream. Accordingly, each member of the live video stream audience essentially views the live video stream in a vacuum.
Thus, the above-described limitations of conventional systems generally prohibit live video stream broadcasters from influencing the engagement level of the live video stream audience, and similarly, prohibit viewing members from more fully engaging with the broadcaster or other viewing members of the live video stream.